• Published 4th Sep 2013
  • 7,442 Views, 677 Comments

Greene Fields under Red Lights - Europa



After an eternal moment of failure and fear, Elizabeth Greene awakens once more. But... where is she? She doesn't understand.

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A Just Cause

DAY 4 OF INFECTION: 9% OF EQUESTRIA INFECTED

Twilight Sparkle

Whoosh!

Whooooo!

Flutter.

Whoosh!

Fwooo!

The tornado of books surrounding Twilight Sparkle didn't abate. Her horn blazed like a torch, but if she felt any magical strain she didn't show it. The actual weight of the books, while quite a lot, was nothing compared to things she'd done in the past. Really, it was all coordination, and she had enough of that from lessons with the Sun Princess that she didn't even notice the whirlwind around her anymore.

The hundred or so books she'd torn from their shelves in the Crystal Library circled around her in a vortex that reached halfway to the aforementioned library's ceiling, but three remained side by side before her. One was a treatise on the psychology of the criminally insane and their behaviors, another was a scientific report on the patterns of the various pandemics that had occurred on Equus throughout the ages, and the last was a notebook for herself, on which her quill scribbled away to the tune of the other two's pages fluttering forward and back.

"Vectors of transmission are major... population densities increase rate of transmissions by variable D. Manual control of infectivity and virulence via nosokinetics..." She etched some more and substituted her variables, but she needed more information! With a flick of thought she returned the pandemic report to the twister around her and pulled out a book on nosokinesis. The Crystal Empire had never banned the books on the dangerous magic, despite having extremely few magic users to use the knowledge. It was not much, seeing as the difference between magical and natural processes was a large one, but it was giving her an idea as to what Greene might be capable of.

The most basic of disease magic was curing and inducing diseases by magic, or given Elizabeth, touch. That magic became more difficult and costly as the diseases became more dangerous; however, given how Greene had seemingly without effort subjugated Canterlot with an armageddon plague, the difficulty thing likely didn't apply to her.

Twilight also wasn't sure if Greene could cure her victims even if she wanted to. She was fairly certain the Evolved's abilities were geared towards spreading infection, not stopping it.

The next tier was disease identification and weakening; it was how the Royal Pathogen and Vaccine division used to create their vaccines. Greene seemed to skip out on that and go straight for the high tier nosokinesis.

Virus manipulation was extremely difficult, and Elizabeth did it. Subduing infections was even harder, yet she had done that to all of Canterlot for two days straight. She didn't know the full extent of Greene's abilities and that ate at her, because then she couldn't stop her, and then others would suffer the same thing that her... that her...

The tornado of literature briefly slowed, but Twilight forced the thought out of her head. That wasn't important! All that mattered was finding a way to prevent anypony else from being infected. The magical decontamination aura - a high intermediate nosokinetic spell - was well and good for small areas around magic users, but A: It would never provide the sort of area of effect needed to contain this and B: It had never been tested against an alien supervirus.

"Twilight?" a familiar voice called out.

"Gwah!" she shouted, her horn extinguishing itself. All the books fell around her, but before they could hit the ground and break their spines and fold their pages, a pale blue glow set them carefully down.

"Twily, you need to take a break," Cadance said as she trotted in. The librarian had long ago fallen asleep, cowering behind the desk in fear of Twilight's vortex. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

"I don't need a break! I'm close to creating a best case and worst case model of the vector spread of the Greene Virus throughout Equus. At the very least we need to know how much time we have!"

"I know, Twilight, but we've had this discussion before, remember?"

Twilight frowned as the alicorn got within foreleg's reach of her. "Continuous studying without rest results in diminishing returns, to the point where resting and then continuing gives more productivity. But we don't have the time! Every moment we spend is another moment Greene is spreading - "

"Actually, the infection seems to have stopped."

Her left ear flopped. "Bwa?" she croaked, her mouth hanging open.

"Reports from around Equestria confirm it. The infection put down roots in a lot of cities and towns, but it didn't progress too far before being stopped. Apparently, Greene is holding off again."

"What? Why would she do that?" She scowled. "Elizabeth made her intentions very clear in Canterlot."

Cadance frowned. "Twilight, are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"You snarled when you said her name," the alicorn deadpanned.

"I didn't snarl!"

"You're snarling again."

"I'm fine!" she insisted with a stomp of her hoof. "I know you're worried about how I'm taking what happened to my parents but I'm fine alright?!" She raised a hoof to wipe away one eye. "I can reverse it. I know it. Everything can be reversed, everything! Princess Luna's corruption, a stomach ache, even Discord's chaos. All I have to do is find how to reverse Greene's virus and everypony's going to be fine!"

Cadance sighed. "Alright, Twilight. But if you ever feel like talking about it..." she said kindly, trailing off.

Cadance shook her head. "As for Greene stopping her virus I'm afraid I don't know, Twilight. But whatever her reason, it buys us time to stop her, doesn't it?"

Twilight sighed. "This is going to throw my intermediate variable way off," she grumbled. "It's good and bad. It gives us extra time to prepare, but we also don't know how long, so the resurgence might take us by surprise, plus she may be holding off because she's preparing something..." She waved a hoof in the air. "Really bad. And we have no way of knowing what it is, because we can't get near Canterlot without being affected."

"I know, Twily, I know. Anyways, there was another reason I came to get you."

The ear that had flopped rose back to attention. "Hmm?"

"I think I may have found something useful that we may be able to use to contain the infection. Come on silly filly, I'll show you."

Smiling forcefully, Twilight laid her notebook on the ground and followed after her former foalsitter. She could already feel a major headache coming on from overuse of her magic, but she couldn't help it. She'd just been so... angry. She had to find a way to stop Greene, she simply had to...

"What did you find, Cadance?" she asked as they ascended a staircase. So many stairs...

"Well, Elizabeth infected everypony in Canterlot and then, well, 'turned on' her disease. But some ponies went away from Canterlot to other places while it was taking hold, so now that she'd paused it again it's in other places." Cadance stopped on the next step and smiled at Twilight. "It's a miracle that nothing happened in Ponyville," she said softly. "I don't know what I'd do if Greene got to you before Aunt Celestia did."

Twilight shivered at that and attempted to crack a smile. "Well... I'd get a lot of first hoof research," she said weakly.

They started walking again to the sound of Cadance's soft, forced chuckles. "That you would! That you would. So anyway, a lot of other places got infected, but here's the thing. Some of my subjects were in Canterlot when it happened. Vacation, business, such and such. But none of the crystal ponies are sick."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really really. I don't know if Elizabeth forgot to infect them, or they're immune, or just resistant, but it is what it is. There are no crystal ponies who are infected." They arrived at the top of the stairs, and there sat the Crystal Heart between its two spires, glowing bright. "Think you'll be able to do something with this knowledge, Twily?"

"Crystal ponies are immune to the Greene Virus," she repeated to herself. "Why?"

Cadance shrugged. "I'm not sure. I was hoping you could figure it out, and then go take a nap. Unless it's a difficult question in which case, nap first."

She shook her head. "No, no. I don't think it'd be too hard." She put a hoof to her chin and pondered how best to attack the problem. The ache in her horn and the exhaustion tugging at her eyelids wasn't helping matters. "I am an Evolved from another world. I desire to spread my infection to everypony I see."

"Alright," Cadance said slowly, not entirely understanding where she was going.

Twilight closed her eyes, even though the light of the Crystal Heart - bright, but not at all blinding - still burned brilliantly. She reached back with her impressive memory to the events of when she'd first met Elizabeth Greene. "I am in Canterlot Castle and I try to spread my disease. But nothing happens. My disease only affects humans, not ponies." She moved her memory forward. "I want to change my virus to affect ponies, but I don't know in what ways. So I need to sample a lot of different ponies somehow. I need unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies."

"That sounds reasonable, I suppose. But couldn't she have done it quickly then? Just three ponies and done?"

"I need a large sample size to minimize experimental error. I go to Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale. But then I unexpectedly go to the Crystal Empire. It strikes me. Of course! Crystal ponies too. So I go to the Crystal Empire but, being from another world and unused to magic, I think they are just earth ponies with shinier coats. So I don't take any samples from them. When I change my virus to affect unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, I don't make it effective against crystal ponies." Twilight opened her eyes. "This... this could be the break we're looking for!"

"How?" Cadance asked.

"If we can get somepony made shiny, they'll resist the virus! I don't know by how much, but something is better than nothing!"

"Alright Twilight, but what's your plan then? Hide all of Equestria under the Crystal Heart's shield and wait for Elizabeth to visit us and make her virus affect crystal ponies too?"

Her ears drooped. "Well, no. But it's a start, isn't it?"

Cadance smiled and nodded, looking back at the Crystal Heart. "That it is. Go get some rest, Twily. I need to talk to Celestia and Luna, I'll tell them what you found."

"But - " A look from Cadance silenced her. "Oh fine," she grumbled in good nature. "Where's my room again?"

"Room three twenty-six," Cadance said without skipping a beat. She leaned over and nuzzled Twilight. "Go get some sleep, alright? If I walk into your room and see you still studying, I'll be sure to tell Shiny about that time you went in his room without asking."

Her pupils collapsed into periods. "Not the time when I replaced his - "

"Yes, that time. Twily, I know it's hard, but you need to take care of yourself. Please."

She sighed. "Alright. See you tomorrow?"

Cadance smiled. "You know it."

Without further ado, Twilight lit up her horn and vanished in a burst of lavender energy. She reappeared in the room Cadance had given to her and Spike. It was a cozy thing, with a window that looked out over the Crystal Empire and the snowy tundra beyond. It was very decorated, but she just waddled over to the unmade, sparkling bed and collapsed in it. She wasn't tired though! She could keep working! She was close to a breakthrough with this knowledge of crystal pony resistance. She was sure of it! She was -

Snooooore.

***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***

Breakfast was, like all other meals, a solemn affair. She sat with the other Elements - sans Fluttershy - in the dining hall. To her left sat Rainbow and Spike, and to her right Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity. Across from them sat Cadance and Shiny. He hadn't said a word all day or yesterday, dismally eating his meal with dark rings under his eyes. The Crystal Prince and Princess were right next to Princess Celestia. Crystal Guards stood vigilant at every doorway, banners of the empire hanging from the ceiling banisters.

Nopony spoke a word, focused entirely on the meal the servants had prepared not many minutes before. Twilight had to admit, not even she could stay entirely morose while eating a crystallized pear, or sparkling pasta. It was amazing! She chewed silently, utterly focused on her meal. Everypony else was the same way until, after roughly twenty minutes of silent meal consumption, Cadance spoke up.

"Twilight, I looked into your crystal pony idea."

"Hrnph?" she asked, looking up with bits of tomato sauce dribbling down her chin.

"There were a lot of enchantments in the Crystal Heart I deactivated, like the one that did up your manes. I'm confident that there's enough power in it to protect large amounts of Equestria, if we can somehow transfer its power over to the cities in need."

"What is this about crystal ponies, my dear niece?" Celestia asked.

"They're resistant to the Greene Virus," she explained. "Twilight figured out that when Greene created her strain, she didn't make it affect them because she confused them with earth ponies. I doubt my subjects are completely immune to the plague, but if their resistance can be given to others..."

Princess Celestia finished the thought. "Then we may be able to contain this. I am very proud of both of you for discovering this. Still, how do you plan to..." Celestia waved a hoof in the air. "Extend these effects to Equestria?"

"With a lot of the enchantments stripped from the Crystal Heart, it has a lot of power to spare," Cadance explained. Suddenly she frowned. "A surprising amount to spare. You would not believe what sort of things I found in it."

"I was thinking we could set up focusing crystals," Twilight said. "I had the idea just this morning, actually. If we can come up with some type of crystal to channel the energy from the Crystal Heart into the surrounding areas, we can make entire town or city blocks resist the virus. I already have several ideas. Alexandrite, perhaps. Of course, we'll have to test them first, but I'm confident we can figure it out and then begin wide-scale deployment before three days pass." She frowned. "Of course, this is all very hypothetical. If we're wrong, then when Greene starts spreading her disease again lots of ponies are going to get sick."

"That is all I can ask of you, my faithful student," Celestia said. "This is a problem unlike any other. Luckily, we have many things aiding us. Not the least of which is Elizabeth's hesitance, your intellect, and my sister - "

One of the doors blew open with a cacophonous slam! In their place stood Princess Luna, her face as radiant as her voice was loud, a cup of coffee floating next to her in her magical grip. "We hath most joyous of news, sister!" She trotted over to the dinner table. "Thou shalt scarcely believe what we hath found in the dreamscape not too long ago!"

Everypony else held their hooves to their ears save for Princess Celestia, who just looked at the smiling, approaching night alicorn tiredly. "Luna, volume?"

"What dost thou - oh. We apologize. At any rate, the news is still most splendid!" She took her place next to Celestia and took a sip from her coffee. She made sure to look everypony in the eyes before continuing. "Gentle Fluttershy is well."

Rainbow spat out her water. "What?!"

Luna nodded, evidently happy with herself. "Indeed!"

"B-But, how do you know? I thought that moonlight-looky thing was hard to do?" Rainbow challenged, apparently unwilling to admit this was not some sort of sick joke.

"Certainly it is! But the infected have no dreams, yet we clearly detected gentle Fluttershy's dreams. She is plagued by nightmares, but given where she is that is the best of the options, and we aided her with them regardless. She is not infected." And that meant her parents weren't dreaming. They really had... no, no don't think about it. Don't think about it.

"She's not... YES!" Rainbow shouted, bursting up in a prismatic streak and a shower of feathers. "Yes yes yes yes yes!" she chanted, flying in a circle above them. She landed back in her seat and leaned over to Twilight. "She's alright! She's alright, oh thank Celestia and Luna and, and, and even Discord she's alright!"

"Yes, 'tis indeed must joyous news. However, we also hath less splendid events to share," Luna said. "We hath spoken to everypony we could find and are explaining to their cities of the danger we face. We had not even left Manehattan when anypony who so much as coughed was cleared away from. Paranoia is beginning to hold fast, and shalt only worsen with time."

"But still!" Pinkie Pie said. "We know Fluttershy's alright, don't we? So can't you just go into Canterlot and wham bam, teleport her out then we go use the Elements on that big meanie Greene?"

Celestia shook her head. "If what my sister says is true, then we can't move to save Fluttershy. Elizabeth may suppress the virus in her, but if she suspects that we may use the Elements of Harmony against her, she'll stop doing so and enslave Fluttershy. She essentially holds her hostage. For now at least, we must hold out hope that Fluttershy can take care of herself."

That's not a big hope, Twilight thought to herself. It's Fluttershy for pony's sake!

"Oh," Pinkie said, drooping. She ate some more of her breakfast cupcakes before picking up where she left off. "Alright, so no go on the Elements. Also, Lizzy's hiding, so we can't go right after her. Crystals then?"

Everypony nodded. "Crystals," Cadance said, like a not-evil Sombra. "We figure out a way to channel the Crystal Heart's magic through them, we place them in key locations, and they ward off the infection, maybe even trap it if we're smart about it. And if Elizabeth tries to spread her plague beyond, we can get her."

Twilight sighed. "It's better than any other plan we've got," she admitted. She gingerly touched her horn. Ow. "Let's get started." She looked down at the sparkling gourmet laid out before them, and remembered there was still desert to go. Double-desert in Pinkie's case. "After breakfast, of course."

***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***

Greene

She spread her hands, and warmth was left behind on the wall. She forced her warmth into it, spreading the red mass through the buildings she had fused together into one large one. There really wasn't any reason she'd chosen this location beyond it having a good view and not being the castle; that belonged to the alicorn sisters. Not hers.

It was done. She'd made her Home in Equestria. She detached from the ceiling and dropped to the floor, looking about the building she had created out of many smaller ones. It was very very very roomy, like her second Home on the island city. It would do well, very well. But now that she'd made it, she had something else to do.

She found the exit and stepped out of it, looking up at the night sky. The moon slowly moved across the heavens, reminding her of her failure, mocking her for it. She had so much to do, so many plans to prepare just-in-case, but before any of that she was hungry and had to eat. She leaped across the streets of Canterlot in what was becoming second nature, finding her way to one of the city's many parks. Through her children's eyes, far away from Canterlot, she could see the equines doing... something with crystals. She didn't know what, but it didn't really matter.

She found her four children in question lounging next to a pond, feeding off her love eagerly under the setting sun's light. While her Strong Children waited in Canterlot for when she would next ask of them something, basking in her warmth, her... her Warm Children lounged.

Their bodies had bloated dramatically, fur fallen out almost entirely to expose reddened flesh, and while they could not cast or fly they could still walk and run at a decent pace. On their backs were large sores the size of Greene's head, but she could see none of them. Flowing from the pustules came cascades of red and white tendrils, and as they ate more and more it extended longer and longer.

Stomach growling fiercely from finishing up her Home, Greene stepped to one of her Warm Children and touched the tendrils stemming from her back. She drew them in, and they slipped out of the pustules and into her body effortlessly. She repeated the action with the other four, and she was once again whole and heavy. She bounded away, looking through her eyes and the eyes of her children...

"Elizabeth, can I speak with you? If it's alright with you, I mean." That was Fluttershy! She'd spoken to her children that guarded her. She changed direction and darted for the castle.

She found her way to Fluttershy in a minute, looking down at her dearest friend. "Fluttershy," she rasped happily.

"O-Oh! Hello, Elizabeth. Um, I didn't think you'd get here so fast."

"Quick," she said giddily.

Fluttershy smiled. "That's good to hear. I was, um, curious. If that's alright. I don't see too much of you. Are you alright?"

"Am fine, busy busy busy." She tilted her head to the side. "Finished making my Home."

"Oh? Can I see if? If that's, um, okay?"

"Yes, follow." With that, Elizabeth Greene lead Fluttershy out of the castle and down towards Canterlot. She brought the pegasus to her Home. She had taken a multitude of buildings and stacked them together, leaving empty spots in the streets where she'd pulled up the houses. It had taken some effort, breaking apart their walls to make one giant cavity and using the rubble, with her tendrils, to fuse them together. Now the complex stood visibly apart from the rest of Canterlot, snared with her warmth and overgrown in red. It wasn't yet reinforced like her second Home had been, but that could come later.

It had a certain charm to it, but Greene had to admit she was no artist.

"You did that?" Fluttershy whispered, looking up at its impressive height. "But what about those pony's houses? Their businesses?"

"No need for business or money. My Home, their Home. Shelter in rain and storm." Elizabeth looked up at the clouds gathering around the mountain. No pegasi manipulated Canterlot's weather anymore, so it happened in a more natural way. Like it had on the Similar world. It would've made her happy, but it also meant it was hard to know when it would rain.

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Well, I guess it's... roomy."

"Very," she said. "Inside? Show?"

"If you want," Fluttershy whispered. With that, she guided the pegasus towards a spot near the bottom. She held out a hand and lightly touched it to the red mesh, which receded into the surrounding tendrils to expose a large hole as an entrance. Fluttershy looked around uneasily before stepping in. Elizabeth followed after her, enclosing the tendrils behind her. "Oh wow," she breathed out.

The inside wasn't that much to look at. Empty cocoons along the walls, for when she may need them. Pulsing orange sacs along the ceiling to provide light, webs and lines of her warmth snaking on the floor. And best of all it was so so so warm. She loved it, as did the several dozen of her children in with them.

"It's... nice, I guess," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Nice," Elizabeth breathed, tilting her head back and closing her eyes blissfully under another surge of her family's devotion. Then she frowned. Something was going on in the city of Manehattan. Her frown deepened. "Need to go, need need need to go. Something wrong."

"What's - " She zipped away from Fluttershy before she could finish speaking, but heard her finish her sentence through her children's ears. " - wrong? Oh, I'll just... go back on my own."

She twisted around the spires of Canterlot Castle and ran full tilt up the face of the mountain. At the top, she looked around and, in the distance, spotted Manehattan. She could see it in the distance, and what looked like three blue dots in it, but she turned to one of her children's eyes for a better look. Greene felt her elation at being looked through and smiled at it, but focused her sights on the anomaly.

It was an enormous, shimmering blue magical field, similar to the one around the Crystal Empire. Not nearly as big, but it was still there, but she could see no equines out to see what it was. No matter. Still looking through her daughter's eyes, she instructed several others of her children to walk up to the field and then carefully test it with a hoof.

Immediately she recoiled them. Their hooves had turned shiny, like her suit had in the Crystal Empire, but it also tingled in them, like it was trying ever so slightly to reject her Blessing, to push it out and fight it. Experimentally, she had one of her sons step inside. Her Blessing tingled inside of him and inside of her veins as he became crystalline, but other than that nothing too bad. Still... she released the Blessing in him and told it to waft around.

Nothing happened. Which was a bad thing, which meant her Blessing wasn't getting far before vanishing.

The equines were putting these up, she realized. They were trying to contain her Blessing, to stop it. They weren't waiting and then coming around. They were actively trying to stop her, and these crystal fields would not be the last. Fluttershy's guess had been a good guess, it had been good advice, but it saddened saddened saddened Greene so much to see that she had simply been wrong.

She sighed and looked down. Oh, she did not not not like where this was going.

Before she could continue that line of thought, a pegasus flew before her, and this was not Fluttershy.

"Rainbow Dash," she rasped, making the pegasus wince. The equine had flown up to her while she'd been focused on her children in Manehattan, and now hovered before her, forearms at her sides, looking generally unhappy. She was framed by the moon behind her and around her neck was a clasp, with a light blue gem in its middle. The crystal sparkled with light that Greene assumed was magic, and Rainbow Dash herself mimicked the crystal pony look.

"You'd better not hurt her," Rainbow Dash snarled.

"Hurt who?" she asked, tilting her head. "Many females."

"Don't act like you don't know, Evolved!" Elizabeth tilted her head, and Rainbow Dash brought a hoof to her face. "I'm talking about Fluttershy! You'd better not hurt her. I don't know why you've taken her, or what you plan to do with her, but listen closely." Elizabeth opened her mouth, but her words only barely built their repeats before Rainbow Dash cut her off. "If you lay even a hoof on her, I will buck your flank onto the next planet. I've watched out for 'Shy since we were fillies, and I'm not about to let some disease ridden psychotic alien destroy her."

Elizabeth reached out towards Rainbow Dash, to try and Bless her to calm her down. Surely the crystal effects couldn't hold off her directly. Either way, the pegasus zipped from her grasp, prompting Greene to start invisibly releasing her Blessing into the air around her. "Oh ho, no you don't. I don't care why you're making everypony sick, or that you've supposedly got Fluttershy hostage with it. You're not getting me."

Her Blessing coasted around Rainbow Dash, but none of it seemed to settle on her. "Should care, asked her to help," she said softly, the repeats of her sentence flying out into the countryside.

"Yeah yeah, whatever! Listen to me, Greene. You're not gonna win. We're gonna trap you, and we're gonna cure whatever it is you've got going on. Hay, maybe the Princesses will find a way to cure you." Cure? You only cured diseases. What was she going on about? She wasn't sick, nor was anyone else. "Mark my words, Elizabeth. We're gonna get you, and when we do I'm gonna free Fluttershy from your grip. We're coming for you." Rainbow Dash turned around and prepared to bolt away. "Mark. My. Words." And then she was gone, unBlessed, leaving a rainbow streak behind her.

Elizabeth looked out into the night sky, and frowned. "Fine," she rasped, but couldn't put feeling behind the reply. She reached out to her children in the far off cities. 'Find and destroy whatever is creating those blue fields. Incapacitate or kill anyone who tries to stop you.'

Her children obeyed, she released her Blessing again, and she sighed. She'd have to break her promise. She'd have to make many lesser Homes around Equestria, give her children a safe place to rest. Things were going to get ugly, of that she was sure. She'd have to armor them as well. Change her other Blessing variants. She had so much to do, and she'd need Fluttershy's help so very much.

Even if it hasn't helped so far, her insidious doubts whispered whispered whispered in the back of her head. She snarled and furrowed her brows.

No, that didn't matter. One sample wasn't enough. She would do this, and she would account for everything. She wouldn't be taken by surprise, not like the last two times. She wouldn't let those who opposed her beat her. So the equines wanted to play rough? Even after all the equines had done for her? Fine. Fine!

Two can play at that game, she seethed.

Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoyed. Please do leave a comment. Even if it's just to say what you liked and not to point out an error, everything helps; knowing what works is as important as knowing what doesn't.

Thanks to devas for editing the chapter.

I do not own MLP or Prototype, Hasbro and Activision do so respectively.